The chief executive of a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme has said he “can’t see a reason” why the timeframe in which landlords are required to comply with the service after receiving funds from a tenant couldn’t be shortened.
Eddie Hooker, of MyDeposits Jersey, stated that rental market disputes involving deposits had fallen since the scheme was introduced in the island around a decade ago.
The company, which is also used throughout the UK, safeguards deposits for nearly 10,000 islanders and provides a free and impartial dispute resolution service.
Since the introduction of these schemes, less than 2% of deposits go into dispute
Mydeposits chief executive Eddie Hooker
It was announced towards the end of last year that Mydeposits Jersey had been reappointed to manage the initiative in the island, with the government stating in October that the renewed contract will run initially for three years, with the option to extend for a further two years “subject to performance”.
Mr Hooker explained: “Before the schemes were introduced – and Jersey is no different – around 25% to 30% of all deposits were never returned to tenants.
“Since the introduction of these schemes, less than 2% of deposits go into dispute.”
Under the current rules, Jersey landlords have to put their tenant’s deposit in MyDeposits within 30 days of receiving the money.
Responding to questions from Express, Mr Hooker said he “can’t see a reason” why the timeframe couldn’t be shortened.
“The impact would be on the landlords – some landlords take a while to process their own admin,” he added.
“We can protect a deposit in a matter of seconds,” expained Mr Hooker, though he acknowledged there were reasons landlords could need time to send deposits, such as delays in processing payments.
He noted that MyDeposits Jersey did not lobby for particular changes but said that, if the government wanted to shorten the 30-day requirement, “we would be able to adhere to it immediately”.
Mr Hooker’s comments come after an islander told Express that he and his partner had to move out of a rental property within just one day of moving in, alleging that the landlord did not sign the lease and advised them that he had sold the property.
They also claimed the landlord argued the property had been damaged and had withheld the deposit.
“We are still battling to get this deposit back, which due to the short timeframe, was never lodged with MyDeposits,” the islander said.
Jersey Landlords Association chair Guy Morris said that MyDeposits had previously come to the island and spoken to its members, and highlighted the benefits of having a third party resolution system in place.
“If there’s a stain on the carpet and the landlord blames the tenant, but the tenant says that it was there before, that will get resolved through an evidence-based third party dispute resolution process that sits within MyDeposits itself,” he added.
Commenting on the 30-day requirement, he also pointed out that the time needed to lodge deposits could be influenced by several factors – such as larger managing agents needing to process a lot of payments within a given period.